STRESSBUSTERS & ANTIDOTES FROM PSALM 23

The seven greatest sources of stress.

1. WORRY2. BUSYNESS OF LIFE3. DAMAGED EMOTIONS4. DARK VALLEYS5. INDECISION6. HURTS7. FEAR OF THE FUTURE

Are you afraid of the future?

A lot of people spend their lives worrying about tomorrow. They never enjoy today because they're worrying about tomorrow.

Why? Because no one knows what's going to happen tomorrow.

Yet David, as he concludes this Psalm 23, is not worried. Psalm 23:6 "Surely goodness and mercy will follow me

all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.“

No anxiety, fear of the future, worry about tomorrow. He's confident -- “Surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life."

GOD'S ANTIDOTE TO YOUR FEAR

"Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Psalm 23:6

Reasons not to fear the future:

Where do you get that kind of confidence? If you're a believer, there are three reasons

why you don't need to fear the future:

1. Because God’s goodness will follow YOU. 2. Because God's mercy is working for YOU. 3. Because heaven is waiting for YOU.

THERE IS GOODNESS FOR YOU.

"Surely goodness will follow me all the days of my life."

Because God is good you can expect His protection and provision.

You can expect that no matter what happens to you, God will bring good out of it somehow.

It will always either be for your own good, for the good of other people, or for the good of His kingdom. God is a good God.

"The Lord watches over all who love him..." (Ps. 45)

IF YOU LOVE GOD: God cares about the details of your life. Like a

father, He will provide for you in the future. We don't know what the future holds but we do know Who holds it.

We know God is in control and God loves you and wants to help you. He says, I will be like a Father and will watch over you.

I. GOODNESS WILL SURELY FOLLOW YOU.

What does he mean by that? Obviously David had disappointments in life. Not everything good happened to him. He's not saying, Surely, only good things are going to happen to me. That's not true. Bad things happen to good people.

He's not saying only good things are going to happen. He's only saying goodness will follow. Good things will always come out of whatever happens even the bad, the evil, the difficult.

God will insure that good will come out -- it will follow whatever happens to David e to you.

The greatest promise from GOD.

Romans 8:28, "We know that all that happens to us is working for the good of those who love God!

IF we love God and are fitting into his plans. This is not a promise for everybody. All things do not work together for good for everybody in the world. Things work together for bad for people who are not trying to go the way God wants them to go, who are not following his path. This is a consequence of sin.

But if you're a believer, the Bible says all things are working together for good -- not all things are good -- but working together for good. That's what it means "goodness will follow me". There is no difficulty, dilemma, defeat, disaster in the life of a Christian that ultimately God won't bring good out of.

Eventually, He'll bring good out of it. Somehow.

My God, my God, Why?

Often it's difficult to see God's goodness when you're going through a tragedy. There are times when you don't feel like God is good. You don't feel His mercy. Sometimes you feel like God's goodness is hidden.

Even Jesus, on the cross, said, "My God, my God, Why?" We go through those experiences sometimes in life -- Why? And we don't see goodness in the situation.

It's only later, looking back, that we see God's goodness and how He was working for good. This does not mean only good things will happen to you, because bad things will happen to you, but God will bring good out of them.

Goodness follows YOU.

Paul was put falsely in prison in Rome. Was that good? No. He was kept as a prisoner

in Rome. While he was there, he wrote some books that we now call the New Testament. Goodness followed after his imprisonment.

Today we're benefiting from Paul's problem, pain, difficulty. Goodness follows.

Goodness during financial crisis

 8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.       "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?'       "In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty. 12 "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty. “ (Mal. 3)

Goodness during financial crisis

The whole nation may be under a curse, under a crisis, under recession.

And God can protect you from it. How? Bring the whole tithe into God’s House; Test God me in this; He will open the gates of heaven and pour out

blessing that you will not have room enough for it. He will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and

the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit; So the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be

a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty. “

Angels are sent to protect you.

God says, I will watch over you. How does God watch over believers?

Ps. 91, "God orders his angels to protect you wherever you go." God uses angels to watch over you. Angels are real. They are invisible helpers.

The Bible says one of the reasons God has created them is to watch over and protect believers. You don't talk to them or see them, but they are there working on your behalf all the time. (Heb.1:14) “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”

Angels among us.

The book Angels Among Us is a book with passages from the Bible on what God says about angels. It's written by Ron Rhoades.

“I want to lay a foundation with three brief points: First, human beings do not become angels at death. That is something you see in Hollywood motion pictures but you won't find it in the Bible. Ps. 8:5. Secondly, angels are spirit beings. They don't have physical bodies. Because they are spirits, they are invisible and most of the time we do not perceive their activities among us.”

Angels among us.

“On a practical level, that means angels are protecting you when you're not even aware of it. Thirdly, we don't just have one angel watching over us we have many angels watching over us. Psalm 91:9-12

 9 If you make the Most High your dwelling—        even the LORD, who is my refuge-

 10 then no harm will befall you,        no disaster will come near your tent.

 11 For he will command his angels concerning you        to guard you in all your ways;

 12 they will lift you up in their hands,        so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

What are some of the ways angels protect us today?

First, angels guard us against harm and injury. We see this illustrated in Daniel 6. Daniel was in the lions' den and the lions were very hungry. But God sent His angels and they kept those lions away from Daniel. The angels protected Daniel from harm. Scriptures say angels have the same ministry in your life.

What are some of the ways angels protect us today?

Secondly, angels guard us by restraining evil. We see this illustrated in 2 Kings 6. We find Elijah and his servant surrounded by a hostile army that is getting ready to move in on them. Elijah is not worried a bit. He knows that God's angels are there but the servant is petrified. Elijah prays to God, "Lord, open his eyes that he can see." At that moment this servant saw angels surround them, hundreds of them. No longer was he worried. He came to understand the truth of Ps. 91 "God commands His angels to guard over you in all your ways."

Protection in dangerous situations.

Number three, angels guard us in the midst of dangerous circumstances.

This is illustrated in Acts 27, where Paul is on a ship with a bunch of other men. This ship encounters a tremendous hurricane. From all outward appearances it looks as if the ship is going to sink and everybody is going to die. An angel appears to Paul and says, "Don't worry. You're not going to die and nobody on this ship is going to die. You're going to be safe."

Angels can protect us in dangerous circumstances.

Finally, angels guard us against despair, discouragement.

True story: There was a lady who went to see her pastor, for she was going to have a Down Syndrome baby. She was in despair. He told her that God would bless her with this DS baby and He would help her through this situation. After she left, he wrote a postcard to her. He reaffirmed that God was going to bless her with this DS baby and take care of her. The postcard got delivered to the wrong address. The lady that received the postcard decided to hand deliver it to the correct address. The lady with the postcard said, "Your pastor wrote you a postcard about your Down Syndrome baby. I want you to know that I have a Down Syndrome baby too and I want to help you through this if you'll let me."

I believe that an angel re-routed the mail. I think angels can do things like that.

Biblical examples

In the Bible there are all kinds of other ways that angels bring encouragement to us.

One thing you can count on: God will always be with you through adversity. He doesn't exempt you from adversity but walks with you through the adversity. Not only that, God can bring good out of evil. That's exciting!

GOD'S ANTIDOTE TO YOUR FEAR

"Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Psalm 23:6

II. MERCY IS WORKING FOR YOU

Not only goodness will follow you but "...mercy will follow YOU all the days of your life."

Isaiah 60:10 "I will have mercy on you through my grace."

What is grace? Grace is God's Riches at Christ's Expense. GRACE: It's all God is able to do for us because

of Christ. Grace is the fact that God gives you what you need, not what you deserve.

What is mercy?

Mercy is grace in action. It is the FAVOR from God as He looks to us with the GRACE that He shared through Christ.

It is the FAVOR CHRIST conquered for us at the cross applied to our debt account added up by our sins. This account is TOTALLY PAID OFF, just because CHRIST has already paid it for us.

It is as if God looked at us and only saw CHRIST and His righteousness that pleases God. That is how Christ is our righteousness.

Why do we need mercy? Because we're imperfect. We stumble and fall, blow it, make

mistakes. In the future you're going to sin! So in the future, you need not only God's goodness, you need His mercy too. You need His forgiveness, pardon, healing.

Understand God's grace and mercy: God isn't out there trying to get even with you; If you've given your life to Jesus Christ, Jesus has taken the penalty

for everything you've ever done wrong or will do wrong, on the cross. He already paid for it;

When a bad thing happens you don't have to think God's getting even with you. God doesn't "get even" for things that have already been paid for on the cross. That's grace, mercy.

When you understand God's grace and mercy then you have no need to fear the future.

No reason to fear the future.

Ps. 103 "I will... not forget the glorious things God does for me. He forgives all my sins. He heals me. He ransoms me from hell. He surrounds me with loving-kindness... He fills my life with good things ... He is merciful and tender toward those who don't deserve it; He is slow to get angry... He never bears a grudge ... He has not punished us as we deserve for our sins for His mercy is as great as the height of the heavens. ... He is like a father to us, tender and sympathetic to those who reverence him."

When you understand mercy, that God is not only being good to you, but He's being merciful to you in handling your mistakes, your sins, your faults, then you don't have any reason to fear the future.

A 24-hour drop in service is available

Mercy means that when I'm going through a tough time, a valley, a difficulty -- even one that I've brought on myself -- God is there to help me out.

God has a 24-hour drop in service where we can go to God asking for help. In His mercy, He can help because of what Jesus has done.

It is called THE THRONE OF GRACE

 14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens,[e] Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Heb. 4

Mercy, like goodness, follows us in life.

God is constantly picking up our messes. Things that we blow, things that we make a mistake, things we get out of order and then we carelessly go on to the next thing.

God is behind you, picking it all up, putting it back together, working it all out, taking care of the messes. That's mercy. He's picking up behind you, cleaning up your messes.

"Mercy will follow all the days of my life" -- not some of the days, but all the days. God doesn't turn His goodness

and His mercy on and off. He doesn't treat you nice one day and the next day treat you badly. All the days of my

life, I'll have God's goodness and God's mercy.

Not a day without His mercy on earth.

You're going to experience many different kinds of days in life. Happy, sad, sick, depressing, lonely, difficult --

that's why we fear the future -- we don't know what's going to happen.

But you will never face a day without God's goodness and mercy with you if you've given your life to Jesus Christ. He will be with you all the time.

Some days you won't feel it, some days you won't see God's mercy and grace and it may be hard to determine. But surely, certainly, without a doubt God's goodness and mercy are going to be there even in the tough times in the future.

Fear of Death.

All of us will have to face the death of someone important to us. But surely, goodness and mercy will be with you. God will be with you. God's goodness will take care of the good days, God's mercy takes care of the bad days -- all of the seasons of life.

How can you be sure? Because God does not lie. He cannot tell an untruth or be inconsistent. He never changes. He never breaks a promise. If He says, "surely goodness and mercy will be with you all the days of your life", they will! We get so worked up and worried about the future because we start "what if“- "just suppose..." There is no supposing in the Bible. It says surely! Christians go to the future not with a question mark but with an exclamation point.

That is His Word. And He doesn’t lie.

“God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.        Does he speak and then not act?        Does he promise and not fulfill? “

Numbers 23:19

Stop supposing. Starts reposing.

Stop supposing and start reposing. Relax, trust. God will be with you no matter what happens. He will help you out.

God's goodness will provide and protect. God's mercy will pardon and forgive. God's goodness will supply. God's mercy will sooth. God's goodness will help you. God's mercy will

heal you.

Sheep or Cow?

Goodness is the fact that God gives us good things in life that we don't deserve. Mercy is that God holds back the condemnation that we do deserve. You need them both in life.

This is a psalm about shepherding -- "The Lord is my shepherd". You lead sheep, but you drive cattle. The difference is that sheep are led from the front. The shepherd is in front of the flock. He leads and they follow.

Cows are driven from behind to keep them moving. If you were to go to the Middle East and see a shepherd leading a flock of sheep, you'll see a shepherd at the front and one or two sheep dogs at the rear, keeping them in line.

Sheep follow the Shepherd.

Goodness and mercy are like divine sheep dogs in life. They are following behind, nipping at your tail, keeping you in line, keeping you safe so you won't get lost. Once you're in the flock you don't get out of it because those sheep dogs keep you in it. Not following the Shepherd is a type of rebellion.

Goodness and mercy keep you in the flock. When you have goodness and mercy in your life you don't have need to fear anything.

Goodness and mercy ought to be enough to get us into the future.

GOD'S ANTIDOTE TO YOUR FEAR

"Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Psalm 23:6

III. HEAVEN IS WAITING FOR YOU.

"... and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." That's one of the most important little connections we see in the Bible. It connects yesterday and today with tomorrow.

God says, "I've got this great life planned for you and surely goodness and mercy will follow you through it, BUT that's not the end! I've got something else at the end!"

He builds it to a crescendo. David ends this Psalm by saying "We're going to heaven!" Jesus saves the best until last. With God it just keeps getting better and better. The best is yet to come.

We were made to last forever.

2 Cor. 5:1 "We know that our body will be destroyed. But when that happens, God will have a house for us. It will not be a house made by human hands; instead, it will be a home in heaven that will last forever."

How long is forever going to last? Forever! Someday your body is going to die, but you aren't. Your body is going to end but that's not going to be the end of you. You're going to live forever in one of two places -- heaven or hell.

They are both real places. You will spend eternity in heaven or hell. Your body is going to die but you're not going to die.

We are going to Heaven.

Why are Christians the most confident people about the future? “6Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7We live by faith, not by sight. 8We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.“ 2 Cor. 5:6,8.

Death, for Christians, is a transfer, a promotion. It's on to better things. No more problems. You're not ready to live until you're ready to die. You don't know how to live until you're ready to die. Only a fool would go all through life, totally unprepared for something that everybody knows is inevitable. You're going to die.

Someday. If you have accepted Christ youare going to go to heaven.

What is heaven going to be like?

You're going to be rewarded for your faithfulness to God and your obedience to Jesus Christ.

We're going to be reunited with loved ones who know the Lord.

We're going to be reassigned work to do that we like to do in heaven -- it will be something you really enjoy doing based on your Heavenly call.

Some people think when you get to heaven, you'll be given this white sheet and set around all day on a cloud, playing a harp! I can't think of anything more boring than setting around on a cloud strumming a harp. You're not going to be an angel in heaven.

What is heaven going to be like?

God's going to give you stuff to do and it's going to be stuff you like to do. Look at how much stuff there is to do on earth, and it's imperfect.

Can you imagine what heaven is going to be like? The God who created wind surfing and snow boarding, you're going to get to heaven and it will be that with no sprained ankles.

You think of all the things you can do here on earth that are cool -- just wait until you get to heaven. You won't have your back go out, and things like that.

What is heaven going to be like?

We're going to be released from pain, from sorrow, from suffering, from depression, from fear. Rev. 21:4 "He will wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain. All of that has gone forever."

Doesn't that make you a little homesick for heaven? Who is heaven made for? It's not made for everybody.

It's made for people who say, "God, I want to be a child of God. I want to follow You."

I Peter 1:4-6 "God has reserved for his children the priceless gift of eternal life...”

Heaven is the future house of the believers in Christ.

Everybody is created by God but not everybody is a child of God. You only become a child of God when you ask Him to put you in His family. You're born into His family. "...the priceless gift of eternal life; it is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.

And God, in his mighty power, will make sure that you get there safely ..." It's not up to me to make sure I get there safely. Once I've committed my life to Christ, He makes sure I get there safely to receive it because I'm trusting Him. “

So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though the going is rough for a while down here." The going is rough for a while down here. But it's just as true that one day we're going to be with the Lord. Heaven was made for Christians, believers, for those who love Jesus. If you didn't love Jesus, why would you want to go be with Him for eternity?

Earth X Eternity

Earth is the warm up act. This isn't the big deal. You're going to spend 70, 80 maybe 90 years here on earth. Goodness and mercy will be your companions for life on earth.

But you'll spend thousands, millions of years in eternity . This is the appetizer, the preschool. This isn't the big show. This is the opening act you're in right now.

The problem is that even most Christians act like that all there is to life is going on here and now. That's all that matters. No! This is just preparation for the big event where you're going to spend all of eternity.

Getting prepared for heaven.

"You are only visitors here...your real home is in heaven..." So act like it! Don't act as if everything that matters is what is here and now.

People get so involved in materialism. Why? You're not going to keep any of that. It's not going with you into eternity. It's only temporary. We use it 70, 80 years. So what?

But we spend all of our lives acquiring, accumulating, getting. We spend our lives as if making money is the most important thing in life and you have to get a whole lot. One day you're going to die and you won't have it any more. You're missing the point. Don't invest your life for things. Getting things is not the goal of life. Getting prepared for heaven is.

How do you do it?

By building character. Growing in Christ. That's what you're taking with you. You're not taking any of your money, your cars, stereos, homes.... Don't buy into the world's system. Don't live on a superficial level. Live in light of eternity. Realize you're not going to be here forever. You're going to be in eternity forever. Don't waste your whole life trying to get a bunch of things for right now that you're not going to keep anyway. It's all on loan; you don't really own anything. You just get to use it while you're here on earth.

And then you give it up. You don't really own anything. Live in light of eternity.

Does everybody go to heaven?

Absolutely not! Everybody does not go to Heaven. He lets those into heaven who want to be with Him because they loved Him during their time here on earth.

How do I know I'm going to heaven? If you were to die tonight are you sure you would go to heaven? I don't have an ounce of doubt in my mind that I would. Not that I deserve it but because I've done what the Bible says to get ready.

Listen & Follow the Shepherd.

John 10 "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.“

How do I know I'm going to heaven? Two things: Jesus says, "My sheep listen to me and they follow me.“ Are you doing that? Are you listening to what God says to do with

your life? Are you following Jesus Christ? Is He your Shepherd and your Savior? If you say, Yes, I'm listening to God and I'm trying to let Him lead my life, letting Jesus Christ be my Savior; I know I'd never get to heaven on my own and I'm trusting Him.

Then you can say with absolute confidence, Surely I know I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I will dwell. Not I might or I wonder. I know I'm going to heaven, because I've done what the Bible says.

God will not let go of you.

What if I sin after I commit my life to Christ? What do you mean if? When you give your life to Christ -- when you put your hand in His hand -- God holds onto it. He grasps it.

There are times in life when you're going to want to let go of that hand. You're going to want a relationship that you know is wrong, read material that you know is bad, make an unethical decision, do things that God says not to do. You're going to want to let go of God's hand. But He's never going to let go of yours.

He says you are in His hand and no man can snatch you away from Him. I will not perish -- not because of me. I don't have to keep myself safe; God's goodness and God's mercy keep me safe. It's not up to me. I just do the trusting, He does the keeping. And He won't let go of me.

When you face the future, what do you see?

Do you look at it with eyes of doubt? With eyes of cynicism? With eyes of expecting the worse?

You have two choices in life: You can either face the future as a cynic, a doubter, with negative thoughts, expecting the worse. ..

Or you can face the future expecting God to be with you and His goodness and His mercy to follow you all the days of your life. It is amazing how much better life gets when you start to actively look for God's goodness and God's mercy in every experience. It'll change your life.

Conclusion.

We're concluding Psalm 23 today. In Psalm 23 we have seen how much God loves

us. We've seen how much God cares for you, how He says "I want to be your shepherd." What's the bottom line of these seven weeks? What have we learned?

If I summed it up in one sentence it's this: Jesus is all you need. You don't need anything else.

As I looked at the Psalm I summarized it like this:

If I know the shepherd, I don't have to fear anything. I don't need to fear poverty because the Lord is my shepherd, I have everything I need. I don't need to fear loneliness, for He is with me. I don't need to fear mistakes, for He guides me on the right path. I don't need to fear failure, for He restores my soul. I don't need to fear my enemies, because He will defend me from them. I don’t need to fear the future, because goodness and mercy are going to follow me all the days of my life. I don't even need to fear death, because I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

What a Great Life a Sheep has!

God is beneath me in green pastures. He is beside me in still waters. He is with me in the valley. He is around me in the presence of my enemies. He's upon me anointing my head with oil. He is before me leading me in the right paths. He is behind me, surely goodness and mercy will follow me. He's even beyond me in heaven. I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

He covers it all!

What more could you want? That covers it all.

Jesus is all you need. The good shepherd provides protection, provision, peace, providence, companionship (His presence), and paradise.

That wraps it all up!

GOD'S ANTIDOTE TO YOUR FEAR

"Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Psalm 23:6

PSALM 23  1 The LORD is my shepherd: I shall not be in want.

 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside quiet waters,

 3 He restores my soul: He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies: You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

 6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.